Stuck in the heat (of the moment)

North building suffers from rising heat, broken chiller

Students+are+turning+to+extreme+measures+just+to+stay+cool

Eryn Barnes '19

Students are turning to extreme measures just to stay cool

A broken chiller is the reason to blame for the unusually intense heat of the North building. One part of this crucial machine needs replacement, and until then the heat will persist.

The problem was brought to administration’s attention on Wednesday morning. And according to assistant principal Eric Fay, the situation is being attended to quickly.

“We’re waiting for the part to come and it is expected to be here by sometime [Thursday or Friday], and then it would be fixed the next day,” said Fay. “It’s just one of those things where it’s not anybody’s fault, [the engineers] are getting it fixed as fast as they can.”

The change in temperature of the buildings normally coincides with season changes, but this year the change in temperature was noticeably different.

“Generally, when they switch from heat to air conditioning, it doesn’t just happen instantly. They can’t just flip a switch,” explained chemistry teacher Raymond Lesniewski, whose classroom is on the sixth floor of the North building. “There’s a big process that the engineering staff has to go through to get the chiller ready and working, and that takes a couple of days. And if there’s a part that’s not working, that’s obviously going to take even longer.”

The heat and humidity did prove to be a slight distraction to students and teachers alike, according to social science teacher Ryan Maggid.

“It’s difficult for students to learn when everyone is distracted and feeling kind of lethargic and sticky from being how warm it is in [the classroom],” Maggid said. “It’s hard for me as a teacher to stay in here all day, since 7:15 [a.m.]. It kind of just makes me want to get out too.”

Despite the uncomfortable conditions, students and teachers ultimately powered through the day. Some teachers, like social science teacher Jennie Harned made some concessions for students.

“One of my students got really nauseous and had to go to the bathroom twice,” Harned said. “Some of my students asked if they could change into gym clothes.”

Harned, like others in the building, has tried to curb the effects of heat by using a large, industrial sized fan. With the fan, the heat is still present and so other measures were taken to beat the heat.

“I’ve reached out to [teachers] in the South building to ask if I could use their classrooms during their off periods,” said Harned. “So, my 5th, 6th, and 7th periods tomorrow will be in the South building.”

The engineers put in the purchase order for the broken part immediately, however, the shipment was delayed because of the uncommon  After a long two weeks of the noticeable changes in the heat, the chiller was finally fixed during the beginning of the second week of AP testing.

Despite the change in temperature, there were less complaints because towards the end of the period of the chiller being broken, the weather was more pleasant. There were many chilly days, marked with clouds and rain, and so, the building wasn’t as hot.